NEW YORK, Jan. 26  -- The U.S.-China Music Institute presented its first annual Chinese New Year Concert featuring Bard College's The Orchestra Now, performing a lively collection of Chinese symphonic works in New York on Sunday.

The concert, the Sound of Spring, held at 3 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Sunday at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater, was co-presented by the Central Conservatory of Music in China, with the participation of China Institute in New York City.

It was co-conducted by Cai Jindong, director of the U.S.-China Music Institute and Chen Bing, associated professor from the Central Conservatory of Music.

"Music plays an important role in ringing in the new year with joyful sounds. In China, an exceptionally long history of musical traditions have been supplemented in recent decades by blending Chinese instruments with Western symphony orchestras," said Cai.

"Today's concert showcases this combination, with compositions that highlight the distinctive characters of each instrument and the colorful musical styles from different regions in China," he said.

The U.S.-China Music Institute was founded in 2018 by Cai and Robert Martin, founding director of the Bard College Conservatory of Music, with a mission to promote the study, performance, and appreciation of music from contemporary China and to support musical exchanges between the United States and China.

In partnership with the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the institute has embarked on several groundbreaking programs including the first degree-granting one in Chinese instrument performance in a U.S. conservatory.